Wednesday, 24 August 2011

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011

a

Laura and I hit the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a few weekends ago. This was our third time and it was the best yet: we're getting pretty good at picking the diamonds in the rough.

For those who don't know, the Edinburgh Fringe festival started in 1947 as a low-budget, amateur alternative to the International Edinburgh Festival. And now, 64 years later, the Fringe has become the largest performing arts festival in the world.

In recent years, the Fringe boasted 2098 shows across 265 venues with a whopping 1,300 performances each day. And this is a completely unjuried festival, which means anything goes: Shakespearian drama, stand-up comedy, exotic cabarets, art installations, physical theatre, stuntmen, dance troupes, celebrity comebacks and even such outrageous highlights such as the Lady Boys of Bangkok and Penis Puppetry... in 3D, no less.

But anyway, here are my reviews (previously seen on my Twitter page) of all 23 shows that we saw...

Penny Dreadfuls Etherdome: stealing their name from the usual Fringe Dreadfuls, this troupe is more sinister & a lot less funny. **

Humphrey Ker: one third of the Penny Dreadfuls, Humphrey goes solo for a Nazi-era, one-man show. A natural storyteller & very funny. ****